Bankrupt Nortel Networks said it is delaying its patents sale by a week, even as big technology companies look to get a share of the prized patents.

On Monday, Microsoft said Google should not be allowed to buy thousands of patents belonging to Nortel under current sale terms.

The company said it will start the auction of about 6,000 patents and patent applications on June 27 instead of June 20.

Google has offered to pay $900 million for all the patents belonging to Nortel, a once mighty Canadian network equipment maker that filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009.

Sources have told Reuters that likely bidders include Apple, Ericsson and RPX, which licenses patents on behalf of member clients for a fee.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)

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